1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus arranged to mount an ink tank, and provided with a component of electrical conduction and an ink supply port. The invention also relates to such ink tank.
2. Related Background Art
For an ink tank detachably mountable on an ink jet recording apparatus main body, it is often provided with an ink supply port on the lower part in the gravitational direction for supplying ink to the main body side. Then, an hollow needle, which is fixed on the ink tank mounting position of the apparatus main body, penetrates a rubber plug provided for the ink supply port of the ink tank when the ink tank is mounted, thus supplying ink to the ink jet recording head installed on the apparatus main body.
Also, for the color printer that uses ink of plural colors or the like, an ink tank itself holds, in some cases, information characteristic of the ink tank, such as the colors and kinds of ink or each amount of contents. Here, on the position where the ink tank is mounted, the connector having contacts provided therefor is made detachably mountable to face the component of electrical conduction arranged on the ink tank side, is installed in order to transmit such information held by the ink tank to the apparatus main body side as electrical information when the ink tank is mounted on the apparatus main body.
However, for the color printer that requires a plurality of ink tanks, the shape of each ink tank is configured to be flat in many cases for the ultimate implementation of a smaller recording apparatus. As a result, it is usually practiced to arrange in the longitudinal direction of ink tanks the relative positions of the connectors in series on the main body side. Here, for that matter, plural numbers of contacts and ink supply ports of the ink tanks are needed on the ink tank mounting surface which is the ink tank installation location on the main body. In such a case, the contacts of each ink tank, which are nearest to the ink supply port, are often stained by ink splash or the like from the tip hole of the hollow needle when attaching or detaching the ink tank. Eventually, therefore, the reliability of contacts is made insufficient as electrical contacts.
Also, both the ink tank mounting surface where the connector is arranged, and the surface of the ink tank mounted on that mounting surface, are substantially flat to each other. Consequently, the ink that has leaked from the tip hole of the hollow needle serving as an ink outlet port tends to flow to the connector side. Assumably, then, this may cause defective contact or short circuit to occur in some cases.
In consideration of the problems of the conventional art discussed above, the present invention is designed. It is an object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of securing reliability of electrical conduction between the ink tank side and the main body side when an ink tank having a component of electrical conduction and an ink supply therefor is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus main body, as well as to provide an ink tank to be mounted on such ink jet recording apparatus.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus in which when an ink tank having a component of electrical conduction and an ink supply port is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus main body, contacts are arranged on the side opposite to the ink outlet port on the main body side to draw ink from an ink supply port with a supporting member for supporting a plurality of contacts on a connector on the main body side as reference, as well as to provide an ink tank to be mounted on such ink jet recording apparatus.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a connector arranged above an ink outlet port on the main body side in the gravitational direction for drawing ink from an ink supply port when an ink tank provided with a component of electrical conduction and an ink supply port is mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus main body, as well as to provide an ink tank to be mounted on such ink jet recording apparatus.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of preventing defective contact or short circuit from being caused to occur even if ink splashes from the ink supply port or ink outlet port toward the contact or the component of electrical conduction or even if ink leaks from the ink supply port or ink outlet port when an ink tank, which is provided with the component of electrical conduction and ink supply port, is attached to or detached from the main body for mounting or removal by arranging the structure so as to check such ink splash not to adhere or enable such leakage of ink to flow in the direction toward the connector, as well as to provide an ink tank to be mounted on such ink jet recording apparatus.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus having a component of electrical conduction and an ink supply port for recording by discharging ink supplied from an ink tank to an ink jet recording head, which comprises a mounting surface for mounting ink tank; a connector arranged for the mounting surface, the connector being provided with electric contact electrically conductible with the component of electrical conduction of the ink tank mounted on the mounting surface; an ink outlet port arranged on the mounting surface, the ink outlet port being communicated with the ink outlet port of the ink tank mounted on the mounting surface; and an electric contact supporting unit arranged for the connector for supporting the electric contact, at the same time, lying between the electric contact and the ink outlet port on the mounting surface.
Further, it is another object of the invention to provide an ink tank mounted on the ink tank mounting surface of an ink jet recording apparatus for recording by use of an ink jet recording head, having an ink outlet port, an electric contact, and a connector provided with an electrical contact supporting member laying between the electric contact and the ink outlet port for supporting the electric contact, and arranging the electric contact to be above the ink outlet port in the gravitational direction, which comprises an ink container for containing ink to be used for recording; an ink supply port for supplying ink in the ink container to the ink jet recording apparatus side by communicating with the ink outlet port when mounted on the mounting surface; and a component of electrical conduction to obtain electrical conduction with the electric contact when mounted on the mounting surface.